CENTER TWP — Township officials said a gas company milled their road without asking, and they're worried that a winter fix is now impossible.

At Wednesday night's board of supervisors meeting, the township engineer and township maintenance foreman both reported a problem regarding Columbia Gas Co. gas line work being done around the intersections of Sunset Drive, Brandon Road and Benbrook Road.

The board previously voiced annoyance over damage done to the area by Columbia Gas work. A previous problem was patched up to be made ready for the winter, but foreman Gregg Brewster said that plan has gone awry. The company continued carrying out its gas-line work — on a weekend — without regards to the weather.

“We had that fixed for the winter,” Brewster said. “We originally were not going to let them go any further, then all of a sudden they come in on a Saturday and a Sunday and mill the road up. What are we going to do? They're going to pave that, yes. But is it going to stay on there?”

The crew had been on the site multiple times to cap gas lines, according to township engineer David Heath. He said his understanding was that union scheduling problems had repeatedly delayed the work.

Then, over the weekend, a sizeable portion of the road was milled by the company's contractors, the pair said.

With nothing but cold weather in the forecast, it's unlikely a good paving job can be completed in 2019 to repair.

Brewster said he'd been calling around and couldn't even find an asphalt company that would be willing to sell material this late in the season.

Board members started discussing what should be done, but their solicitor Michael Gallagher said they ought to move the topic to executive session, as their logic was careening quickly toward litigation.

At any rate, the board agreed that the road couldn't be left as is all winter.